katase shima

The hero of the story is Shima, or "Shipon" as Arisa dubs her, who joins the Stellvia foundation's space program with the dream of "seeing the stars while looking forward, rather than having to look up." Initially, she swings between being completely confident in her abilities and doubting herself entirely. Throughout the series, she is portrayed as extremely diligent, yet also a natural genius. As the series unfolds, Shima learns to accept her mistakes without feeling the need to be perfect, understanding that it's okay to fail sometimes. For example, after struggling initially in her training where she ranked last in piloting, she takes advice from Kouta Otoyama. She realizes she was attempting to process too much information from her ship's displays at once. This realization dramatically improves her piloting skills. Despite early challenges as a pilot, her programming skills are exceptional right from the start, and she eventually integrates both skills to become an even more capable pilot. She earns the nickname "Shipon" because during her first time piloting one of the Biancas, she flew around erratically, like a ping-pong ball. (Source: Wikipedia)